Skilled Migrants: Stimulating Knowledge Creation and Flows in Firms

This chapter examines the role of skilled migrants as an international business (IB) resource in stimulating knowledge creation in their country of residence (CR) firms and facilitating cross-border knowledge flows between their CR and their country of origin (CO) firms. Drawing on the current state of research on migration in IB at the firm level, this chapter presents a conceptual framework that explains the motivation of skilled migrants in stimulating knowledge creation and knowledge flows in firms, the processes or mechanisms through which they do so, and the factors affecting the outcomes in internationally engaged firms. The knowledge carrier process, it argues, enhances the technological, institutional, and market-specific knowledge capabilities of CR firms. The knowledge connector process, on the other hand, creates knowledge bridges between migrants’ CO and CR that facilitate cross-border knowledge flows and can lead to the identification of new resources and capabilities for CR firms in CO locations. It concludes with a discussion of implications for organizational policymakers and provides several avenues for future research in IB.